"'Yudhishthira said, "All men speak of ourselves as highly fortunate. In
truth, however, there is no person more wretched than ourselves. Though
honoured by all the world, O best of the Kurus, and though we have been
born among men, O grandsire, having been begotten by the very gods, yet
when so much sorrow has been our lot, it seems, O reverend chief, that
birth alone in an embodied form is the cause of all sorrow. Alas, when
shall we adopt a life of Renunciation that is destructive of
sorrow?[1342] Sages of rigid vows freed from the seven and ten (i.e., the
five breaths, mind, understanding, and the ten organs of knowledge and
action), from the five faults of Yoga (viz., desire, wrath, covetousness,
fear, and sleep) that constitute the chief causes (for binding man to
repeated rounds of earthly life), and from the other eight, viz., the
five objects of the senses and the three attributes (of Sattwa, Rajas,
and Tamas), have never to incur rebirth. When, O scorcher of foes, shall
we succeed in abandoning sovereignty for adopting a life of renunciation?"
"'Bhishma said, "Everything, O great monarch, hath an end. Everything hath
bounds assigned to it. Even rebirth, it is well-known, hath an end. In
this world there is nothing that is immutable. Thou thinkest, O king,
that this (viz., the affluence with which thou art invested is a fault).
That it is not so is not true, in regard to our present topic of
disquisition. Ye, however, are conversant with virtue, and have
readiness. It is certain, therefore, that ye shall attain to the end of
your sorrow, (viz., Emancipation) in time.[1343] Jiva equipped with body,
O king, is not the author of his merits and demerits (or their fruits as
represented by happiness and misery). On the other hand, he becomes
enveloped by the Darkness (of Ignorance having attachment and aversion
for its essence) that is born of his merits and demerits.[1344] As the
wind impregnated with dust of antimony once again seizes the
efflorescence of realgar and (though itself destitute of colour) assumes
the hues of the substances which it has seized and tinges the different
points of the compass (which represent its own hueless progenitor, viz.,
space), after the same manner, Jiva, though himself colourless, assumes a
hue in consequence of being enveloped by Darkness and variegated by the
fruits of action, and travels from body to body (making his own stainless
and immutable progenitor appear as stained and changeful).[1345] When
Jiva succeeds in dispelling by means of Knowledge, the Darkness that
invests him in consequence of Ignorance, then Immutable Brahma becomes
displayed (in all His glory). The Sages say that reversion to Immutable
Brahma is incapable of being achieved by Acts. Thyself, others in the
world, and the deities too, should reverence them that have achieved
Emancipation. All the great Rishis never desist from culture of
Brahma.[1346] In this connection is cited that discourse which was sung
(by the preceptor of the Daityas) in days of old. Listen, O monarch, with
undivided attention to the course of conduct that was followed by the
Daitya Vritra after he became divested of all his prosperity. Depending
only upon his intelligence, he did not indulge in sorrow, in the midst of
his enemies, although he was deprived of sovereignty, O Bharata! Unto
Vritra, when in days of old he was reft of sovereignty, (his preceptor)
Usanas said, 'I hope, O Danava, that in consequence of thy defeat thou
dost not cherish any grief?'
"'"Vritra said, 'Without doubt, having understood, by the aid of truth and
penances, the advent and departure of all living creatures, I have ceased
to indulge in either grief or joy. Urged by Time creatures sink
helplessly in hell. Some again, the sages say, go to heaven. All these
pass their time in contentment. Passing their allotted periods in heaven
and hell, and with some portion of their merits and demerits unexhausted
(by enjoyment and suffering), they repeatedly take birth, impelled by
Time. Chained by the bonds of Desire, creatures pass through myriads of
intermediate lives and fall helplessly into hell.[1347] I have seen that
creatures come and go even thus. The lesson inculcated in the Scriptures
is that one's acquisitions correspond with one's acts.[1348] Creatures
take birth as men or as intermediate animals or as gods and go to hell.
Having acted in lives, that are past in such a way as to deserve them,
all creatures, subject to the ordinances of the Destroyer, meet with
happiness and misery, the agreeable and the disagreeable. Having enjoyed
the measure of weal or woe that corresponds with their acts, creatures
always come back by the old path,[1349] which is measured by the measure
of acts.' Then the illustrious Usanas addressed the Asura Vritra who was
thus talking of the highest refuge of the creation, saying, 'O
intelligent Daitya, why, O child, dost thou utter such foolish
rhapsodies?'
"'"Vritra said, 'The severe penances which I underwent from greed of
victory are well-known to thee as also to other sages. Appropriating
diverse scents and diverse kinds of tastes that other creatures had for
enjoying, I swelled up with my own energy, afflicting the three worlds.
Decked with myriads of effulgent rays I used to rove through the skies
(on my celestial car), incapable of being defeated by any creature and
fearing none. I achieved great prosperity through my penances and lost it
again through my own acts. Relying on my fortitude, however, I do not
grieve for this change. Desirous (in days of yore) of fighting the great
Indra, the high-souled ruler of the heavens, I beheld in that battle the
illustrious Hari, the puissant Narayana,[1350] He who is called
Vaikuntha, Purusha, Ananta, Sukla, Vishnu, Sanatana, Munjakesa,
Harismasru, and the Grandsire of all creatures.[1351] Without doubt,
there is still a remnant (to be enjoyed by me) of the rewards attaching
to that penance represented by a sight of the great Hari. It is in
consequence of that unexhausted remnant that I have become desirous of
asking thee, O illustrious one, about the fruits of action![1352] Upon
which order (of men) hath been established high Brahma prosperity? In
what manner, again, doth high prosperity fall off? From whom do
creatures spring and live? Through whom again do they act? What is that
high fruit by attaining to which a creature succeeds in living eternally
as Brahma? By what Act or by what Knowledge can that fruit be achieved?
It behoveth thee, O learned Brahmana, to expound these to me.'
"'"Recapitulated by me, O lion among kings, listen with undivided
attention, O bull of men, with all thy brothers, to what the sage Usanas
then said after he had been thus addressed by that prince of Danavas."'"